Pregnancy Weeks 4-12

I'm trying to take in all the different aspects of this pregnancy to document.  I have a few notes from the boys and desperately wish I had more notes to compare to.  There's a lot to forget in 7 years!  So, here's a first trimester update!

I knew almost immediately that I was pregnant but there was a part of me that thought I could be making it up since I was anxiously waiting to see if the Lord would bless us with another baby.  I know I drove Jeff crazy!  I was so excited to finally see the positive pregnancy test but at the same time still didn't feel real.  I kept thinking the test was lying to me or that it was wrong.

Here I am at 8 weeks.  It's hard to tell but I do have a bit of baby bump in this picture.  At about 6 1/2 weeks I started having "morning sickness"....or rather I should call it "all day sickness."  Completely exhausted and feeling nauseous nearly all hours of the day...this is what life looked like.

At 9 weeks we had the opportunity to have a quick ultrasound to see baby and got to see the heart beating.  It was so great!!

10 weeks and morning sickness hit a new peak.  I thought I felt bad before but I had no idea!  I had about 2 weeks of barely get out of bed sickness.  Thankfully there were things going on that required me to get out of bed, otherwise, I probably would have been a complete miserable mess.

Baby is 12 weeks along in this picture. The good news is that even though I still feel sick, I've gained about 4 -6 hours in the morning that I can actually function fairly well.  Evenings are still horrible but I'm glad that I get part of my day back.  

One thing the Lord has reminded me over and over again is that even though I experience a hard first trimester, it doesn't mean I can't still have joy during it.  I was reading an interview of a mom with a lot more kids than us and because she had lots and lots of pregnancies I just assumed she never experienced morning sickness.  Who would put themselves through that so many times???  She, too, struggles with each pregnancy but her focus is on the Lord and His desires so the hardships of pregnancy doesn't matter to her and doesn't detour her from God's plan.  What a lesson to learn!  That's what keeps me going when I think of all the moms who do this despite the hardships and still can have joy during it.  Their love and devotion to the Lord points me back to Him and it's through Him that I find peace and joy through the hard times.  One of the things I tell myself each day..."I'm one day closer to feeling better and this won't be forever!"  I have seen how fast the time goes and I'm so grateful to have a fresh new perspective this time around.  I know it's just a drop in the bucket compared to the big picture.  

I'll warn you that if you follow my blog, you'll get tons of baby updates!  I honestly never thought I'd experience a 3rd pregnancy so this almost feels like having a baby for the first time again.  It's an incredible experience and I'm so glad the Lord changed our heart and has us back in this exciting season of life again.